COURSE OVERVIEW:

Welcome to Anthropology Two. The year is made up of four course modules.

During your second year of studies, you will be introduced to a sustained exploration of a particular region of the world, namely Oceania. This module will show how island communities in the Pacific Ocean have long been a part of broad processes of colonization, conquest, migration and trade linked to specific relationships with their lived environment. Such fluid histories, emerging from the journeys of intrepid seafarers, are of long duration and predate more recent forms of colonial conquest. That they do so will help you to think critically about current concepts such as globalization and to dislodge the idea of static isolated small-scale societies.

In the second module, you will also be introduced to key anthropological research methods with an emphasis on qualitative methods undertaking a mini fieldwork project. You will leave the module with a working understanding of research practice in anthropology, and will submit a portfolio of research evidence at the end of the course.

In the third module you will be introduced to evolutionary theory in relation to homo sapiens, as well as a wide range of explanations for the emergence of life on earth. The social consequences of the theory of evolution will be explored in relation to racism, religious and mythic frameworks, and social theory more generally.

A fourth module will comprise a detailed examination and assessment of a particular ethnography.  Through reading such a book, you will be able to explore a sustained piece of anthropological research; the ways in which it has been written and argued; the importance of its research focus; the inventiveness and pertinence of methods used in gathering research data; its theoretical focus and quality of argument.

Anthropology 2 expands on the introductory knowledge of Year 1 through anthropological case studies exploring regional, theoretical and methodological areas of the discipline. Regional studies dislodge the idea of static isolated small-scale societies and include broad processes of colonization, conquest, migration and economies linked to specific relationships with people’s lived environment to critically engage with a range of current concepts such as globalization, inequality, power, sustainable development, racism, religion, the Anthropocene and others. Thematic studies explore key areas of biological anthropology, evolutionary theory and close readings of ethnographic texts from a range of social contexts. Anthropological research methods are introduced with an emphasis on qualitative methods to obtain a working understanding of research practice in anthropology.